Western Sahara: Sahara Weekly News Update

Mauritania - The Mauritanian President, Maaouiya Ould Sidahmed Taya
received Mhamed Khadad, Saharawi coordinator with MINURSO, who gave him a
message from the President of SADR, on the subject of "bilateral relations
between Mauritania and SADR" said to be "fraternal and good". Mr Khaddad
declared that Mauritania has "always supported the efforts of the UN for
bringing peace to the region" and that SADR will continue to lend its
support to the efforts of Mr James Baker in the search for a solution to the
conflict based on respect for the inalienable rights of the Saharawi people
and in accordance with international law. (SPS, AMI)

28.08.02

Earth Summit - The President of the Saharawi Republic sent a letter to
participants at the world summit on sustainable development, taking place
from 26 August to 4 September. He denounced the destruction of natural
resources and the systematic plunder of underground and fishing riches of
Western Sahara by Morocco. Mohamed Abdelaziz pointed out that certain
species of fish are on their way to extinction through failure to respect
biological recovery time and through the use of drift nets. He indicated
that several species of animal, in particular gazelles, bustards, fennecs,
and reptiles have practically disappeared. "The few acacia trees here and
there in the Saharan oases have been cut down to serve as posts for the
barbed wire fences protecting the defensive wall" he added, deploring that
"wells have been destroyed or poisoned by the Moroccan forces of occupation
which over a quarter of a century have pursued a systematic scorched earth
policy." These practices continue despite the legal opinion recently put out
by the UN Legal Department, which prohibits the exploitation of the
resources of the country without the consent of its population." (SPS)

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

24.08.02 - Four of the five or six unemployed people arrested on 22
August (see week 34 <http://www.arso.org/01-e02-34.htm>) were
transferred to the civil prison of El Ayoun and presented before the public
prosecutor. The sentence, due on 2 September, was delayed a week. The four
men, Negro Mohamed, Lehman Abdalla, El Belaoui Hamadi and Semesdi Lebeihi
are accused of being the instigators of protest movements of young
unemployed people in the occupied territories. The prosecutor refused
bail. In the course of being interrogated they are believed to have been
tortured. (SPS)

26.08.02- Arrest

While he was presenting himself in a police station in Rabat for
electoral registration forms for the forthcoming elections on 27 September
next on the list of the United Socialist Left (Gauche Socialiste Unifiée -
GSU) in the constituency of Assa-Zag, Ali Salem Tamek was arrested and taken
to Casablanca, where he was interrogated by the national brigade of judicial
police, specialised in interrogations of major criminals.

The next day he was transferred to Agadir, where the interrogation
continued. The magistrate's court of Agadir set the sentence for 29
August. His lawyer requested an adjournment and release on bail. The court
refused bail and set the hearing for Monday 2 September. Tamek Ali Salem,
who suffers from asthma, is at present in the civil prison of Inzegane,
known for its poor prison conditions. He is accused of belonging to a spy
network working for the Polisario Front, which he has denied while at the
same time defending his political convictions in favour of
self-determination for the Saharawi people.

Tamek is a member of the National Council of the Forum for Truth and
Justice ( Forum Vérité et Justice) and of the executive of the Sahara
section (FVJ-SAH). A member of the administrative committee of the CDT
(Democratic Labour Confederation), he is general secretary of the CDT of
Assa. Ali Salem Mohamed Salem El Mami (known as Tamek) was born on 24.12.73
in Assa, he is married and has a small daughter born in 2000, who he wanted
to call Attawra (revolution).

The Moroccan authorities refused the registration on the civil registry
on the pretext that this first name is not on the famous list of Moroccan
forenames edited by the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior. Following the non
registration, the family were refused the family allowance given under
Moroccan law.

A council worker in the administration of Touesgui (Assa), Tamek had
been arrested in 1993 and sentenced with four young Saharawis, by a Moroccan
court in Tata, to five years of closed prison, for having tried to join the
Polisario Front. The punishment was reduced to two years and Tamek was
pardoned in August 1994. He was arrested again in Dakhla in December 1997
and released in El Ayoun 10 days later. In April of that year

Tamek was ordered to leave Assa-Zak and go to Meknes, which he refused
to do. His salary was frozen. The Moroccan authorities still deny him a
passport. He sent an open letter in 2001 to the Moroccan minister of the
Interior, published in a Moroccan Arab language weekly. The Moroccan Arab
language independent press on several occasions published his articles on
the human rights situation in Western Sahara and interviews.

Tamek and five other Saharawis figure in the search warrants of December
1999 part of the affair known as "Network Antilope" which led to the arrest
of Khaya Cheikh, Laghzal Brahim, Massoud Laarbi and Bahaha Sidi Salek in
December 1999 and September 2000. Sentenced to four years' imprisonment,
they were released in November 2001, following actions carried out jointly
by activists of the Forum for Truth and Justice, the Daddach committee,
BIRDHSO and Amnesty International. (week 23 / 2000
<http://www.arso.org/01-e00-23.htm#ANCREag> and week 45/2001
<http://www.arso.org/01-e01-45.htm#ANCREdad>)

Reactions - The executive of FVJ published on 27 August a statement in
which it condemned this arrest and demanded his release. The FVJ-SAH also
published a statement along the same lines. AFAPREDESA launched an urgent
appeal asking human rights organisations to appeal to the Moroccan
authorities for the release without delay, of Tamek and all the Saharawi
political detainees. (AFAPREDESA statement engl.)
<http://www.wsahara.net/news.html>

28.08.02 - Another arrest

The police in Goulimine (200 km south of Agadir) arrested in the street
Abdessalam Eddymaoui, a member of the Saharawi section for the Forum for
Truth and Justice. He is considered by the Moroccan security services as one
of the instigators of the demonstrations in Smara in November 2001. The
authorities had forbidden him from returning home to Smara since last
November.

Eddymaoui Abdeslam (Abdeslam Embarek Mohamed) was born in 1954, he is
the father of three children. He belongs to the group of 26 Saharawis from
Agadir, sentenced for membership of Polisario Front cells and imprisoned
from 1977 to 1982. An official of the Agadir court, the Moroccan authorities
still refuse to reinstate him in his job. (corr., SPS)

REFERENDUM

30.08.02-03.09.02 - Sweden

A seminar on the future of Western Sahara, bringing together Saharawi,
Moroccan and Swedish experts, took place from 30 August to 3 September. The
meeting, organised jointly by the Olof Palme Institute of International
Studies and the University of Lund near Stockholm, consists in an exchange
of points of view, in closed door sessions, on the future of Western Sahara
after the completion of the referendum.

Experts in international relations and Swedish professors of
international law will look at experiences of decolonisation similar to the
case of Western Sahara. The Saharawis, who will be represented by three
experts, Polisario Front officials, decided to take part in this seminar,
convinced that "the language of dialogue is the best way to lead to a
solution for the decolonisation of the territory." The Moroccan side is
represented by university professors, former diplomats and officials of the
"Bouabib Foundation ", close to the Moroccan socialist party (USFP). (SPS)

MOROCCO

26.08.02 - The Moroccan government decided on the creation of the
Promotion Agency for the economic and social development of the southern
provinces of the Kingdom [Western Sahara]. The agency, placed under the
Prime Minister's supervision and managed by an administrative Council made
up of representatives of the State, will have as its mission to study and
submit to the competent authorities integrated economic and social
programmes leading to the economic and social promotion of the region, to
find funding for them and to ensure follow-through.

- Discussion Forum on enforced or involuntary disappearances at Linking
solidarity <http://www.linkingsolidarity.org/forum> with a geographic
header on Morocco-Western Sahara
<http://www.linkingsolidarity.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=dcd84a9be3bf4cefb200dd6b90ca192a&forumid=4>.

The Project Linking Solidarity is an independent initiative implemented
by the Humanistic Committee on Human Rights (HOM). This project aims at
strengthening links of co-operation and solidarity between all persons and
organisations acting against enforced and involuntary disappearances and
providing support or assistance to relatives of disappeared persons. This
Forum was created thanks to assistance from the Dutch and Belgian
governments.

HUMANITARIAN AID

28.08.02 - Balearic Islands

The Saharawi Minister of Health, Omar Mansour signed an agreement with
the government of the Balearics and the Association of Friends of the
Saharawi People on health aid for Saharawi children and adults staying there
and on cooperation health projects in the refugee camps.

Sweden - 02.09.-30.10.02, Göteborg, Folkets Hus: A Photo Exhibition
"Western Sahara is not for sale" by the British photographer Kim Naylor
(living in Sweden) will be opened in Folkets Hus, Gothenburg on 2
September. The exhibition will last until 30 October. For more information
contact <mailto:saharabulletinen@delta.telenordia.se>

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